© iStockStress can raise the risk serious health problems, including obesity and heart disease.
But life's pressures are not always negative. While intense, prolonged, stress undeniably raises the risk of serious health problems, world-leading neuroscientist Professor Ian Robertson argues in his latest book, The Stress Test, that life's pressures can in fact help us to flourish, with the help of the body's complex chemical processes. Stress can help to motivate us, and even strengthen the brain.
Peter Clough, professor of psychology at Manchester Metropolitan University, agrees, and says that we have become "stress-phobic" as a society, by inextricably connecting it to anxiety. In reality, most of us seek out more pressurised lives - chasing pay rises, promotions, and raising families - to reap the emotional benefits of satisfaction.
Launching his discussion with the words of German philosopher Friedrich Nietzche - "that which does not kill us makes us stronger" - Robertson, professor of psychology at Trinity College Dublin, unpicks why some of us struggle to cope with stressful situations that others appear to withstand with relative ease. This is partly down to our physical, neurological and environmental differences, which change what pushes our buttons. Some find repetitive tasks too much to bear, while others balk at strict deadlines and large workloads. In the end, stress itself is not the issue, but how we deal with it.
In The Stress Test, Professor Robertson extinguishes the idea that our brains are "hard wired" from birth, and instead suggests that our thoughts and emotional experiences reshape the organ by turning genes on and off.
"We have between our ears the most complex entity in the known universe and the amazing fact about it is that our brains can self-programme. We have the ability to change not only the functioning of our brains, but the very chemistry and structure of them by the way we use them," he says.
Inside our brains are two competing mechanisms. The "approach" system on the left front part encourages us to seek rewards and triggers the release of anxiety-tackling dopamine. The "avoidance" area at the right front part of the brain meanwhile avoids punishment, prompting the release of noradrenaline, which is linked to the "fight or flight" response. Balancing the two creates the perfect cocktail of chemicals to transform stress from debilitating into brain-boosting, with those who are most in control of their emotions best equipped to exploit this.
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"The first step is that you have to believe that you have control," says Professor Roberston, citing the "fixed" and "growth" mind-set concept pioneered by Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck. Those with a fixed mindset, for example, view their skills rigidly while those who allow themselves to repeatedly practise and fail until they improve can cultivate a range of talents.
Demonstrating control over your thoughts - even for a few seconds - is the second step. With perserverance, this can gradually extend for minutes, hours, days, and years.
This all seems rather abstract. But Professor Robertson is emphatic that there are countless methods and techniques individuals can use to address their stress. Some, like cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT), are relatively new, while others, such as meditation and mindfulness, have been practised for centuries. A recent study showed that, like CBT, diligently practising meditaton can help to positively re-structure the brain.
For others, allotting "worry time" in their schedule can block racing thoughts from disturbing our days, suggests Professor Robertson.
Changing one's attitude towards pressures is also important. A 2007 study at Harvard found that chambermaids who regarded their work in hotels as exercise were able to lose weight and experience a drop in blood pressure.
Comment: It is, indeed, the way we view and frame our day to day pressures, misfortunes and tests of mettle that determines whether we will rise to the challenge or sink into frustration and depression.
The book, Man's Search For Meaning by Viktor Frankl, is a recount of life in Nazi concentration camps during World War II. The prisoners who lost their lives each day through psychological, emotional and physical breakdown, the author observed, were the prisoners who lost faith and could find no meaning - however subjective and personal - in their suffering.
Fortunately most, if not all, of us have never had to face the kind of situation Frankl and his fellow prisoners face, but the lessons he learned from his harrowing experience are universal and can be applied to any time of adversity.